


Beating Hearts & Happy Faces

by foreversnowflake



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Pre-Relationship, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-29
Updated: 2013-12-29
Packaged: 2018-01-06 15:10:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1108330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foreversnowflake/pseuds/foreversnowflake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set at the beginning of season 2, Oliver has come back on his own after his leave due to the Undertaking, and distances himself from Felicity to try and keep her safe. Felicity does not agree. But can they keep their distance, while being so close? AU where Tommy lived.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ah hello dearies, and welcome to my new fic! I already finished it a while ago and am FINALLY posting it here! I sincerely hope you enjoy it, I know I did!! Please tell me what you think afterwards ;)

Unsure Felicity stood in front of the big entrance. She gulped. She didn't feel intimidated. Hell she looked really good in her iceblue strappless gown and her amazing new shoes. But still it didn't feel quite right. Seriously out of place here…I should go. I am going… But they did invite me. Would it be rude to not show up? Yes, yes it would. So a doorbell… where is the doorbell. Suddenly the doors opened as if they had heard her thoughts and an old lady appeared in front of her.

"Welcome miss…"

"Felicity. Smoak. Felicity Smoak." The woman eyed her dubiously.

"You a reporter miss?"

"No, she is defenitly not a reporter Raisa. Don't worry. If she is, well, I will kick her out personally!" A wide grinning Tommy appeared behind the woman and Felicity let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Don't you even dare Merlynn. Besides you wouldn't be able to with the self-defense Diggle has been teaching me." She smiled at her new friend and stepped inside as the Raisa stepped aside for her.

"OOhhhh, I'm all scared now. You're like a chipmunk, I think I can take a hit from a chipmunk." Tommy put on a mock scared face as he took her arm and swooped it through is own. He guided her through the big hall and into the livingroom which was crowded with important people.

Why am I here again? "Because I asked you to!" Stupid brain to mouth filter… "I can't survive an entire evening with all these boring people without my favourite geek!" She looked down to see a smiling Thea Queen clinging around her waist. She smiled tenderly at the younger woman. She had became such good friends with Thea ever since Oliver decided to disappear again. They had been able to find comfort in each other and ofcourse there was Tommy for the much needed comic relief. It was amazing really how the three of them had found each other. Especially considering how weird a bunch we are together. The best friend, the sister and the personal geek. Seriously, we could have our own reality tv-show should we want to.

"Sooooo," Thea began,"have you seen Ollie yet?" A small moment of nerves took over as she thought about it. Oliver. She hadn't seen him in months and now here she was. In the Queen Mansion. His house. And Thea's house. That thought seemed to calm her, if only just a bit.

"No, not yet. I bet he's busy anyway. I mean there are a lot of people here. It's christmas AND it's his welcome home party." Again. "There must be many things he has to do before he has time for me. He is making his rounds. Shouldn't you be making rounds?"

"I'll make rounds, if you stop making excuses." Thea looked at her. Determined to win the argument.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about Thea. Excuses? What excuses. It's not like I don't want to see him or anything, hahaha. I mean it's not like I'm nervous right? Is it hot in here?" She looked around the room, feeling a blush creep up on her cheeks.

"You'll be fine Lis. I am sure he has missed you too !", Tommy replied with a reassuring smile. Ah, Tommy. The peacekeeper. The only one who had seemed to be able to keep her sane for the last few months. And Digg ofcourse. Where is Dig anyway? She let go of Tommy's arm and excused herself. Wandering around the room she found herself fascinated by the many unhappy faces around her. For the love of God, how hard is it to smile people. It's christmas! Happy times! COME ON!

Suddenly there was a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a smiling Digg standing there. "Merry christmas kid!" She smiled and stood on her tippy toes to kiss him on the cheek.

"Merry chistmas bro!" She laughed at the disgusted face Diggle made as he heard her say 'bro'.

"Please don't EVER say that again!"

"I can make no such promises my friend. I mean did you see your own face? Priceless!" They walked out the livingroom and into the kitchen, which was empty. "So you here as you or as bodyguard/driver you?", she asked him as she took a seat on the counter.

"The last one. Although I haven't seen him all night so there isn't much guarding to do. Not that he needs it anyway." He looked at her with a sad look in his eyes.

"You haven't seen him yet either right?", she asked looking up from her feet. He shaked his head,

"No. The only ones who has seen him so far are Thea and Raisa. Thea said he said he was coming down tonight but I highly doubt it." "So where is he now? WAIT, I know. I still have that tracking device I put on all of you!"

"You put tracking devices on us without us knowing?"

"Well would you have agreed if I asked you?"

"No."

"There's my point." She pulled out her phone and started tracking. "….He's in his room. I'm…. I'm gonna go check okay? Tell Thea and Tommy I'll try to get him down." He simply nodded and Felicity headed towards the staircase.

Okay so up the stairs…. And then take a left…. And the second door after that. GOTCHA! Slowly she opened the door. It was an enormous room but she couldn't see much more than that because all the lights were of and the room was pitchblack except for the small hint of light that now came from the door. "Oliver?" No sound. She put her hand against the wall and started moving it until she found a switch and turned the light on, an unhappy groan coming from the bed.

"Oliver? Are you seriously in bed? What the hell? Everyone is waiting for you downstairs."

"Is that your way of saying you miss me?" So his sense of humour is still in tact. Whoop-dee-do.

"No, but it's the best you're getting right now so just go with it. Now come on get out of bed. What are you, a big baby?"

"Felicity I'm not coming down. It was a mistake coming back. I'm leaving tomorrow and.."

"NO! Don't you dare run off again! Do you have any idea how worried everyone was? Thea? Tommy? Diggle? ME!? You lef tus. You lef tus when we needed you! When this city needed you!"

At the last sentence there was a stir in the bed and he sat up. "I didn't come back to become the Hood again Felicity! You saw what happened! I destroyed the Glades! Thousands of lives were lost! YOU NEARLY DIED! Several times! Tommy did die! And it was all my fault!", he whispered the last part.

"Yeah, well… Tommy's okay now so…. He's downstairs waiting for you, you know. And… and…", her voice trailed off.

"I came back for Thea. To be her brother. To be CEO of Queen Consolidated. To save my company. Not my city. I can't. And so this", he motioned his hand between the two of them, "is over."

Her mind went blank as he said the words. This is over. He no longer needed her and so there was no reason for her to be here. He was right. How could I ever have thought that we were more than just collegues… Who was I fooling. We're not friends. We never were. A tear slipped down her cheek and she turned around. Not wanting him to see how his words affected her. "You're right. I uhm… I should go. Goodbye mister Queen." Not bothering looking back she left and turned the light back off. Leaving a stone faced Oliver alone in the dark.

She almost flew down the stairs. Wanting to leave this house as soon as possible, teard now full on streaming down her face.

"What happened?", Thea and Tommy yelled in unison.

"Nothing. He told me to leave." That we're not friends. That he doesn't care about me. "And so I am. Leaving, that is." Thea's brows furrowed in confusion. How much she looks like her brother right now.

"But he told me you were friends? How does that make any sense?"

"He said he wasn't going to be the man he was before he left…", Felicity replied as she looked at Tommy, whose eyes suddenly went sad. He knew what she meant by that. He wasn't picking up the Hood again. And so there was no connection between them. No reason for outsiders to see they even knew each other.

"I'll take you home", Tommy said as he grabbed her coat and fished out his car keys from his pocket. "I'll have someone bring your car back tomorrow. For now, let's just go." She nodded in agreement and said goodbye to Thea, who was still confused, and Digg, who gave her a reassuring smile.

"I'll stop by with take out tomorrow 'kay?"

"Deal." Her tears had stopped and as she go tinto Tommy's car she told herself she was done being sad. Done with thinking about Oliver Queen. He didn't need her anymore, and so she didn't need him. From now on I am going to be happy. And Oliver is not going to be part of that.

At that last thought her heart cringed in her chest, but she ignored it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AANNNNDDDD chapter 2 is here. ENJOY!!

*2 weeks after Oliver left*

"Ex..Excuse me" Felicity stepped into the hospital room. It was big. Bigger than any hospital room she'd ever seen. And in the bed lay he. "You may, uhm, not remember me, uhm… My name is..."

"Felicity. Right?" Tommy sat up straight as she stepped fully into the room. "I remember you. You worked with Oliver during his… nightly activities." She smiled at his awkwardness.

"Yes. I'm the personal IT-geek. I just.. came to check on you. I heard you're doing better. I mean, I asked the doctor just now. And he said that. That you're doing better. I'm not stalking you or anything." Her cheeks started to flush as she embarresed herself in front of Tommy.

Tommy just laughed. Not just a smile, but a full on laugh. It somehow put her a bit more at ease. "He told me you were special. I can see what he meant now. It's okay Felicity. I don't bite. Sit down. It's nice to have some company once every now and then. Laurel has been avoiding me and the only ones who visit me are Raise, which is nice because she brings me my favourite food and stuff. And then there's Thea and her weird boyfriend Roy. He never says anything which is sorta off putting. Why are you laughing?" He looked down at Felicity who was once again red, but now from laughing.

"You! You're even worse than me! You talk even more than me! This is amazing! You're amazing!" She managed to choke all that out all the while laughing so hard her stomach started to hurt.

"Well, I'm glad you find my conversasional skills so amusing miss Smoak", he said teasingly.

"I, I'm sorry mister Merlyn. I shouldn't be laughing."

"Well au contraire Lis, can I call you Lis? I haven't heard laughter in so long. Nurses aren't exactly the comedians I hoped they'd be so..." She looked at him. He was different from what she had thought of him. He was, kinder, nicer, happier and bubblier. In fact he was a lot like her.

They kept talking for another hour, until one of the nurses came in and told her that it was time for Tommy to get his medication. So she stood up to leave. "Will you come back tomorrow? It's nice to have someone to talk to except from my own reflection and ghosts of people I used to know." He looked so sad as he said this.

"Of course mister Merlyn. Tommy. Is it okay if I say Tommy?"

"Is it okay if I say Lis?", he replied. She just laughed.

"See you tomorrow Tommy" And with that she left him to his thoughts.

The visits kept going for another 2 weeks and as they grew closer, they started to talk about more serious things. Tommy started to talk about his father, how he had never really trusted him but still never would have thought that he was capable of doing so much evil. About his mother, how he missed her and how hard it had been without her. About Oliver. How he now understood why he did what he did. He didn't like it though. He was very clear about that. "Don't get me wrong, I don't approve of what he did. He kills. He was a killer. And I don't like that. But I do understand now. He had to do those things to protect himself. The things he loves. The people he cares about." All the while he talked she was silent. She just listened. She understood.

On her turn, she talked about Oliver. How he had been while he was pretending to be someone he no longer was. How troubled he had been. How troubled he probably still was. A single tear escaping her as she talked about him.

"But most of all he's a coward." Tommy looked up. Confused at her sudden change of character. "He left me. I mean.. he left us. When we needed him. He left. Because he couldn't handle it. Or so he said. I think he was just scared. Scared to see who we couldn't save. To find out how we were going to fix it. Scared of being alone. Scared that we blame him." She looked down at her feet while leaning forward and landing her head on the bed. "I told him we'd always be there!", she sobbed. "Why can't he just believe us and be there! That would have been enough you know. If he just had been here."

A hand came down on her head, slowly stroking her hair. Soothing her. "I get it. You care about him. A lot. And so do I. I know you miss him. From the way he always talked about you, I'm sure he misses you too. He is just scared to come to terms with his own emotions, because I bet there are a lot of those right now." She looked up at Tommy, a reassuring smile playing at his lips. "He just needs time. He'll come back."

He motioned for her to come sit next to him while he scooted over. She climbed up on the bed and lay next to him, his arm around her and still caressing her hair. If she had to give one word to describe Tommy it would be comfort. Everything just seemed to be simple and easy with him.

"Well well well, let's see what we have here?" They both looked up to find a smirking Thea Queen standing in the doorframe. Her eyes skimmed over their position, coming to a halt at Felicity's face. Her smirk quickly disappeared and was replaced by concern. "OMG, I'm so sorry. I obviously interrupted a moment. I'll leave. I'll come back later."

She was ready to turn around, but Tommy stopped her. "No, please, Thea. Stay. The more the merrier. Plus we could use someone to lighten the mood couldn't we Lis?" He looked down towards Felicity who just nodded, a weak smile on her lips. Thea sat down at Tommy's side and put her bag down. "Felicity, this is Thea Queen. Although you probably already knew that, the genius you are. Thea, this is Felicity Smoak. A mutual friend of Oliver and me." Thea looked at her for a while before connecting the dots.

"You were at the hospital. The day we found Walter. You work at Queen Consolidated right? Walter and Oliver mentioned you a few times but I never really had a face to put to the name. It's nice to finally officially meet you Felicity!"

Felicity looked at the girl in surprise. Was NO ONE the way she expected to be? This was definitley not the girl she read about in the tabloids. This was a well raised and educated young woman smiling back at her. She reached out her hand to Thea and she took it.

The 4 of them talked for a while and Felicity got something to drink for herself and Thea. "So," Thea began, "did you just work with him at Queen Consolidated, or did you also assist him during his 'nighttime activities'? And no I don't mean it that way, calm down. I know you know about him" Felicity nearly choked and spit out her water.

"YOU KNEW?" She looked at Tommy who didn't seem as surprised as she was. "YOU KNEW SHE KNEW?"

"Calm down Lis. Honestly she is not stupid you know. Frankly I'm surprised she didn't find out sooner." Still coughing up her water, Thea started explaining.

"Seriously, he comes back after 5 years on an island and suddenly there is an arrow shooting vigilante roaming the city at night. I mean come on people!"

Felicity wasn't able to form words. Which was rare for her since she normally had plenty to say. She just stared stupidly at the woman in front of her. "Well? Are you going to answer or what?"

"Yes. Yes I did help him. I am a computer genius and Oliver is not that smart. I mean, he is smart. He is just not GENIUS. And I am genius so..."

"So I heard", she laughed. "Well now I know who to come to in case of a internet emergency!", she said, giving her a devious smile.

"Oh, god not another Queen coming knocking at my door with weird requests!" She replied, overdramatically waving her hands above her head.

Tommy just looked at the two people bonding in front of him. Talking and giggling as if they were sisters and they had known each other all their lives. Realising how lucky he was to have these two woman in his life. He suddenly felt really tired and briefly closed his eyes. Before he even knew he was drifting off to sleep and the two women became silent.

"Come one," Felicity said,"Let's go. We can talk more back at my place. I'll tell you all you want to know about the Oliver I got to know ovet the past year." Thea smiled at her appreciativly. She picked up her bag and Felicity put on her coat as they tried not to wake Tommy. They got into Felicity's car and drove to her apartment. Time seemed to fly as they talked, laughed, cried and told stories while the other listened. Tired from all the crying and emotional talks, Thea fell asleep on Felicity's lap. It was nearly 2 a.m. when Thea's phone started to ring. Roy. She picked it up, hoping the sound hadn't woken Thea.

"Hello, this is Thea's phone." Pause.

"Yes, hello who is this? Where is Thea? Why isn't she picking up?" She walked out into the kitchen so she wouldn't wake her.

"My name is Felicity Smoak. I am a friend of Thea's. She fell asleep on my couch just now. I hope you don't mind. She looked so peacefull, I didn't want to wake her." A sigh at the other end.

"It's okay, I know who you are. I've seen you at the club. I'll come pick her up tomorrow if you don't mind."

"I don't mind at all Roy. I'm happy she has someone like you!" With that they said goodbye and she walked back into the livingroom and pulled up a blanket to cover the sleeping girl. She looked incredibly adorable and innocent like that.

She wrote a note and put it on the coffetable in front of her before she walked to her own bed, and fell asleep almost inmediatly. How lucky she was.

How lucky I am, she thought. If only that one person would be here to share it...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you think ;)


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a week since the incident at the Queen Mansion. Felicity still hadn't seen Oliver. Not that she minded. She could use the distance. Although it would have been nice to at least have seen him once. Like in a hallway or something.

She caught herself unconsciously thinking about him when she was spacing out at work, but would quickly block him away the moment she did. What was it about that damn Oliver Queen, that just wouldn't leave her alone?

"...licity. Felicity. FELICITY. Omg. Oh, well here goes nothing". With a jolt and a scream Felicity sat straight up in bed, water seeping down her nose and a grinning Tommy standing next to her bed.

"WHAT. THE. HELL. MERLYN!?", she yelled as she glared at him. I swear if I could kill someone by just looking at them, he would have died at least 10 times. She sat at the side of her bed, coughing as the water reached her mouth. She wiped it away and looked up at a still grinning Tommy.

"I swear if you don't wipe that stupid grin of your face, I will. What are you doing here anyway?" She shocked herself. Jesus Christ, someone woke up cranky this morning.

"Calm down Grinchity Smoak. I mean it's not like I didn't call out for you at least 5 times. As for why I'm here, Thea said you weren't picking up your phone. She was saying how I had a spare key and should go check on you. You overslept. See?" He pointed at the clock on her nightstand. 9:00!? Holy crap! Her eyes grew wide and she jumped up, pushing Tommy out of the way.

"Okay, here's how it's gonna go! You go make some cereal, you can do that right, and I am going to change!" She ran into her bathroom, leaving behind a flabbergasted Tommy.

"Women….", he said as she slumped back into the livingroom, making his way towards the kitchen.

By the time Felicity was done eating, Tommy had already driven the car around to give her a ride to Queen Consolidated. "Thanks Tommy, you're a dear!", she said. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and jumped out of the car, running through the main hall at a remarkable speed. Remarkable. Finally she had reached the elevator. She had it all to her own, thank god, and she finally had time to relax.

Wait a minute. How can I be late, when the head of IT… is me? I could just tell them I had some kind of meeting. I mean, what are they gonna say. They are friggin's scared of me. Aww they are so adorable when they're scared. She stepped out of the elevator and made her way towards her office, while walking by the cubicles, greeting her nervous-looking minions. Look at my babies. All scared and nervous, they are so cute! Wait, did I used to look like that?

She opened the doors into her spacious office and took a seat at her desk. This office was way better than her old cubicle. This one had windows and an amazing view, that is, had the city not been destroyed by an earthquake.

Time flew by as meetings passed, minions were bossed around and paperwork was organized. In all honesty she now spend a lot less time on computers than she did before. Especially now that she was no longer the personal tech-girl to the vigilante. She barely had time for it. In fact, she barely had time for anything. She could only just squeeze in the occasional lunch with Thea, Tommy or Diggle. But more often than not, she had to order in. Being head of IT and all, she could almost never leave her desk. Deskjob. The one thing I was trying to avoid...

Another big pile of paperwork was dropped on her desk. And we all know what that means. More paperwork equals more grumpiness… Now I know where the outbursts come from.

She had been writing away furiously, when there was a knock at her door. Ah, there he was. Her favorite minion. Alderman. He always looks completely petrified, she thought, although I have no idea why. Surely I don't look that scary?

She put on her best 'I-am-in-charge' face and said, very intimidatingly might I add, "Yes, Alderman?"

"Uhm, I'm sorry to bother you,", he squeeked, "but the CEO is asking for you. I mean, he sent me. To fetch you. He has this virus you see? Not that he's sick or anything. It's a virus on his computer."

"Yes, Alderman, I already assumed that. If he was sick he wouldn't be calling for me now, whould he?" He got even smaller, if that was even possible.

"Yes… ofcourse. You are completely right." The boy was completely white now and looked like he might throw up any second.

"It's alright Alderman. Breathe. I was just messing with you. I'll go right up after I finish filing this paper. Okay?" That seemed to calm him down. Some color returned to his cheeks and he smiled nervously.

"O-okay. It's just, you make me nervous. Plus mr. Queen is a rather scary man...", he said while looking at his feet. He really is adorable.

"Well, I'm not scared of him. He barkes, but he doesn't bite!" Often. "If he wants to go all alfa-male on someone he can take it out on me." With that she stood up and walked towards the doors, Alderman making, what seemed to be a small bow, as she exited.

When she was once again inside the elevator, alone, she took a deep breath. She might have looked cool on the outside but her heart was beating like crazy! Okay, calm down! He just wants his computer fixed. Nothing to get nervous about! Just breath Felicity. Breath. Yes, breathing is the key. Think happy thoughts! Even though you haven't seen him for a week, YOU WILL BE FINE. He's only your boss. Okay that doesn't help, brain! He is just Oliver. I mean, mr. Queen. You are not friends. She felt a stab in her heart at the last thought. They weren't friends.

The elevator reached the top floor in record time, and she stepped out, hesitating before she strode towards the glass doors of his office. She walked through and was welcomed by his personal assistant. "Mister Queen will be with you in 10 minutes. He is in a meeting right now. You can wait here is you want.", she said. A fake smile plastered on her face, and a perfectly manicured nail pointing towards a chair in the corner of the room.

She sat and waited. And waited. And waited. And after 20 minutes had passed she stood up, ready to leave. But of course exactly then he walked in. He didn't see her at first. It wasn't until the girl, apparently named Patricia, nodded in her direction that he noticed her.

"You're late mister Queen. I was told you would be here 10 minutes ago!", she said angrily, yet with respect. After all, he was her boss.

"A Queen is never late. Everyone else is simply early." As he said this, his features remained stony. But she knew better than to believe his poker face. On the inside he was giving himself a sel-five for being that witty. Seriously though? A Princess Diaries quote? What are you, a teenage girl?

As his pokerface remained in place, so did hers. "Right. Well, I was told you needed help mister Queen.", she said, being very specific with the mister. For a moment she thought she saw a hurt look in his eyes. But as soon as she saw it, it was gone. And so she decided not to think anything about it.

"Yes, right, follow me miss Smoak.", he said as he guided her into his office, shutting the door behind him. His hand on the small of her back as he guided her, send shivers down her spine. She quickly stepped away from him, his hand leaving her back and suddenly she felt cold.

She sat down opposite of Oliver and waited for him to explain the problem. But instead of explaining he just stared at her, his intense blue eyes not helping the situation. Unable to break his intense gaze, she just stared back. Tension seemed to fill the air, and right when it seemed to become unbearable, he spoke.

"I thought I sent for the head of IT? Was he busy or something?" SERIOUSLY?! She almost yelled it into his face, but stopped herself at the last second.

"No, no in fact she wasn't. Considering I am the one in charge now, mister Queen.", she said as her face turned angry and instead of just gazing, she was now glaring. "I got a promotion you see."

"Ah, right. Right. Okay, well my computer has like this virus on it, so….." He stood up and stood next to his computer, giving her the space to sit in his chair.

He stood silently as she typed away on her computer. Neither of them said anything, but she felt his eyes on her back, on her face. Just, on her. It wasn't making her uncomfortable, it just didn't really help her situation where she would lead a life without him.

"Done." She stood up and walked away, not wanting to see his face.

"Felicity…. Uhm, thank you...", he stuttered. She turned around, her face still neutral. Why are you making this so hard?

"You're welcome mister Queen." And with that she turned around once again and stalked towards the glass door.

"Felicity!", he called out for her again, but she was ready for it this time. He wanted to say something else but she cut him off.

"Don't. Please, just don't Oliver. Don't make this harder than it has to be. I fixed your computer, so I'm going. And from now on, no more 'Felicity'. It's miss Smoak. Because we", she motioned between the two of them, "are nothing anymore. Probably never were. So I am going. And you're not going to call for me anymore. Goodbye Oliver." And with that she was gone. Almost running down the hall towards the elevator. And somehow she couldn't help the tears running down her cheeks.

She took the rest of the day of, not wanting to be in the building of the man she once loved. Loved? Yes, yes I did. No matter how much I wanted to deny that I didn't, I did love him. Probably still do. But we are nothing. We never could be and so we never can be. Again the tears started running down.

She opened the door to her apartment, threw her bag in a corner and sat down on her couch. She didn't know how long she sat there. All she knew was that when someone knocked on the door, the sun had set. She slumped to the door and was faced with a bag of chinese shoved in her face.

"Told you I'd stop by with take-out!" She took the bag out of Diggle's hands and let him in. He shut the door behind him as she took out 2 plates and walked towards the couch again.

"Well you're about a week late." She motioned for him to sit down.

"Yeah well it looks like you could use it now. Did something happen?" He looked at her with a concerned face. Diggle. The big brother I never asked for, but one I sure need at times…

"Oliver happened. He needed the head of IT to fix something. Guess he didn't know I took over that position. How does he keep doing that? I mean, even though he said we weren't, well, anything, he still was the Oliver I know. The Oliver we know. How can he do that to me? Am I like a toy to him? One moment he throws me away as he likes, and the next he does the EXACT opposite!? It is impossible to understand this guy!", she said. Her head had slowly turned red with anger, confusion and fluster and her emotions were all over the place.

"He is a pretty complicated person Felicity, and it will take a great effort for someone to understand him. Not everyone can do that. But I think you can. You always seemed to seek out the best in him. And then he almost lost you. I mean, think Felicity. Did you ever consider he might be putting distance between the two of you for a reason? He almost lost you. We almost lost you. Do you understand that?" After he was finished talking she just looked at him. "He almost lost you." AHA! So he did care!

"I do, I understand. But what he needs to understand is that I'm a big girl, and that I can take care of myself!", she said, determented to make herself as clear as she could.

"Yes well I know that. But does he? He is hardheaded Felicity. If you want that guy to know something you pretty much have to yell it in his face. It's the only way it seems to get through to him." He nodded all the while he said this and put on a dum mocking face at the end. Comic relief.

She sighed. "I really care about him you know."

"I know. I know you care about him more that you probably would like to admit, and that's okay. I know he cares about you too. A lot, if-you-know-what-I-mean." He wiggled his eyebrows and she burst out in laughter. Tears sprung to her eyes and she hit him in the chest nearly falling back into the couch as she gasped for air.

When she finally regained her voice she sat back up. For a while it was silent and the mood had turned serious. Then she spoke, "So how do you suppose we do this?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please let me know what you think ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Felicity walked down the street. It was one of those rare days were she actually had time to get some lunch, and so she had texted Thea to meet her at the Big Belly Burger. The only reply she got was;  _ **Depends on what ur wearing. Don't wanna be seen with a weirdo with panda shoes :p Hey! I happen to love those panda shoes!**_

She smiled down at her phone. To be honest she had started to dress quite fancy since she became head of IT.  _I mean come on, with a fancy office automatically comes a fancy dress code_. She looked down at her outfit. She was wearing a navy blue peplum dress with her favorite gold belt, and her bright pink suede killer heels. Yes, she looked different than before. But with a twist and some colorblocking, she still remained true to herself.

_**Just get your boney ass down here will you? :)** _

_**Already there Lissy! Just hurry up. You're not the only one with a schedule ;)** _

She laughed down at her phone and kept walking down the street. She reached the diner a few minutes later and thankfully sat down in the booth with Thea, where Carly inmediatly set down a glass of water for her. "Apparently someone's on a schedule so she told me to be quick!", Carly smiled and walked away to take the next order.

"So, a schedule huh? Who would have thought that Thea Queen would ever be someone with an actual schedule!" She made a surprised face, which earned a slap from Thea.

"Yes, even I have a schedule, if-you-must-know." She waved for Carly to serve the food, and surprisingly, it actually came.

Carly shifted towards Felicity and said; "Can you tell her I am not actually a servant? Because apparently when I tell her that, she won't listen."

"I'm sorry Carls!", Thea yelled after her as she walked away.

"Yeah, you say that now, but don't make promises you can't keep Queen!", and with that Carly was back behind the counter helping another customer.

They talked for a while.  _This is what I miss most_ , she thought.  _The times when I can just relax and be myself. Guess there's just something about those Queens…_

Before they knew, Felicity had to get back to work and they said their goodbyes. As Felicity walked away, she heard Thea laugh at something. But when she turned around to see what it was, all she saw was the younger Queen grin at her.  _Teenagers…._

***Thea's POV***

When Felicity walked out the diner she quickly grabbed her phone and dialed a number. "The eagle is flying, I repeat, the eagle is flying!"

"Thea, seriously, this is not some covert operation. We're almost there. Order us some food and something to drink will you?", Diggle said on the other end of the phone.

Thea sighed, "Fine, but we have to keep it a secret from her okay?"

"Roger that, ma'am." The line disconnected, and Thea was left waiting for both Diggle and Tommy. to arrive at the diner.  _Super secret mission 'get my brother and Lis together' is a go!_

It took Dig and Tommy around 5 minutes to get there and when they were both settled across from her she turned completely serious. "The reason I asked both of you to come here is because I was scared you,", she looked at Tommy, "might attack me if I told you and I thought I might need protection from that… Besides I am not the only one who came up with this, by the way, awesome plan. He was the one who said we should come up with a plan in the first place!" She pointed at Digg who raised his hands in defense.

"Calm down Thea, I haven't even heard this plan and you're defending yourself. That doesn't exactly give me a lot of reassurance, does it now?" He eyed her dubiously and leaned back, arms crossed in front of his chest. "So, tell me this grand plan of yours."

"Okay, are you ready? SO, we came up with a plan to get Ollie and Lissy together because, well, they're obviously totally in love with each other!", she said, enthusiasm being the main emotion on her face.

"Oliver… and…. Felicity, huh?", he said. It was silent for a while and Digg and Thea waited in anticipation. "You know what? I like it! They both deserve some love in their life. But this could either turn out to be the best thing we ever thought of, or the worst..."

She could just hug him in that moment. She wanted to jump across the table and crush him. She could already see it. The headlines would say, 'Death by Hug'.  _You adorable little shit._

"So now tell me this plan you guys came up with, 'cause apparently it has me in it otherwise you wouldn't have called me here."

"Well, it sort of goes like this", Digg started, "Oliver doesn't know you and Felicity are, as Thea here likes to call it, 'besties." He made an annoyed face as he said the word, which made Tommy crack up.

"I never, in my LIFE, would have EVER thought you would say something like THAT!¨ , Tommy managed to choke out. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…. carry on."

"Well,", Thea continued, "we thought it would maybe 'stir' something in him, if he saw the two of you together, if-you-know-what-I-mean." She wiggled her eyebrows, which did nothing for Tommy's laughing fit.

When he finally calmed down he became serious. "So I guess Lis can't know about this? Wow, this really is some kind of covert operation! I feel so vigilante-like! We should have code names!"

"Hold your wild horses there dude. Indeed, Felicity can't know about this, at least not right now. If we tell her now, she probably won't agree with it. So for now, we keep it a secret. And NO code names for Christ sake!", Diggle said.

"Fine...", Thea and Tommy said in unison.

"So, tomorrow I'll go to lunch with Felicity in the QC café. I know for a fact Ollie likes to go to lunch there. He'll see us and BAM! I mean this just has to work, right? If he doesn't act right away, I'll improvise." He had an evil grin on his face and Thea had a feeling it would be better not to ask about what exactly he would improvise…

"Okay then,", she said, "meeting adjourned! Split up. Go away. You know what? Fine I'll go!" She stood up and left the diner, whistling as she walked down the street.  _This is going to be AWESOME!_

***the next day***

***Felicity's POV***

She was sitting in her office working once again on some papers that were just dropped on her desk.  _I swear, one more pile of these and someone is getting fired._

Her phone buzzed and she looked down to check who it was.

_**Downstairs in the café. Even bosses need breaks!** _

She smiled. Tommy. She looked at the big clock hanging in the corner of her office. 3 p.m. already.  _I guess I do deserve a break sometimes. I AM the boss after all._

_**Be down in a sec. Order me some coffee please?** _

She got in the elevator and went down to the café where Tommy was waiting for her with a large cup of coffee.

"Hey you! You look haggard, seriously. When is the last time you had a day off?", Tommy said as she took the coffee from him and they both got seated.

"Hey to you too, and too long! But hey, the internet never sleeps." She took a big sip from her coffee, sighed and sank back into the chair. "I really needed that you know?"

"I know. I don't know how your interns survive you without your coffee.", Tommy said. She laughed. She had missed her friend and it felt like ages since she'd seen him. But he didn't seem to be completely  _here_. He kept looking around like he was waiting for someone, or looking for someone.

"Is something wrong?", she asked.

"NO! I mean, no. Nothing's wrong." He smiled nervously at her and kept looking around. Suddenly his stare froze on something behind her. She turned to look around and…  _Oh god. Oliver. Turn around, turn around. Don't look at him!_

It seemed as soon as Oliver had come into the room to have lunch, Tommy had relaxed because he had suddenly scooted closer to her and started talking with total dedication. He still occasionally looked over to Oliver, but she decided to not pay too much attention to it.

It occurred to her that Tommy was suddenly very touchy feely like and it was starting to freak her out. When he laid his hand over hers she grabbed it and squeezed it, still smiling. "Tommy, I don't know what's going on but you're telling me, and you're telling me NOW.", she gritted through her teeth, all the while still holding a tight smile. She was practically crushing his hand now and he let out a squeek of defeat.

"Ouch! Fine! I'll tell you. You know how Diggle told you Oliver was pushing you away because he thought that was the best thing for you?" She nodded in acknowledgement. "But how he secretly likes you, a lot, and he is a total cowards and won't show it? Well we, Thea Digg and I, thought of this plan to make him jealous. You see he doesn't know yet that we're friends and honestly I think it's working because he has been giving angry glares for the past 10 minutes and please don't be mad!"

Apparently her face had mimicked her inside feelings because Tommy had a scared look on his face.  _Oh you are in trouble…. all three of you_ … She looked over her shoulder to look at Oliver who quickly looked away, but something that looked like anger still clear on his face.

 _But if it's working…_  Her face relaxed a little and at that so did Tommy. "So, uhm, tell me more about this plan of yours?" She still looked uncertain, but Tommy took what he could get.

"Just play along with me. I was just gonna torture him until he would come over here and intervene. I think he's pretty much on edge right now," He leaned forward to whisper something in her ear. "He is so totally gonna freak after this. Just giggle like I said something funny!" She actually giggled, because his breath tickled her neck. As soon as Tommy sat back up, she saw him glance over at Oliver and his eyes grew wide.

"Target is approaching! I repeat! Target is approaching!", he said. She didn't dare look up.  _Here it_   _comes…._

*Oliver's POV*

He had thought a lot about what Felicity had said.  _"Don't make this harder than it has to be!"_  He had tried. Lord had he tried. But it was hard. Much harder than he had expected it to be, especially when she was always within hands reach. He avoided her. But sometimes he just couldn't resist the urge to come to the IT-floor,  _unnoticed ofcourse,_  and drown in the sight of her. She looked amazing in her new office-outfits. Always with the fitting dresses and the heels, _God the heels,_  that made her legs seem endless.

You can look, but you can't touch. But for how long will I be able to keep that up?

It was especially hard when he, now, saw her sitting at a table with Tommy all smiles and touches and giggles. He saw Tommy put his hand over hers, and he nearly snapped.  _When the hell had they become so close?_

Suddenly Felicity looked over her shoulder, straight into his eyes and he quickly looked away. She must have seen his expression because she almost inmediatly turned back to Tommy.

When he felt it was safe to look again he froze. Tommy was leaning in towards Felicity, and she didn't stop him! He seemed to whisper something funny in her ear, because she giggled when he pulled away.

 _That's it!_  He stood up and marched towards their table. Tommy looked up with a smile, but Felicity was suddenly very fascinated with her nails and began to study them.

"Oliver! However may I help you on this wonderfull day?", Tommy said.

He put on a fake smile. "Tommy, Felicity. Hey Tom, can we have a word. Alone." His eyes turned dark on the last part, but Tommy didn't seem to pick up on it. As soon as they were out of Feliciy's hearing range he said, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Tommy looked surprised. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about?"

"Yes, yes you do. I meant with Felicity. What are you doing with Felicity?" His gripped on Tommy's arm tightened.  _That's bound to leave marks tomorrow._

"Oh, that. We were just..." There was a long pause, and Oliver's intense gaze didn't falter. "We were just working you up." Tommy finished, a grin on his face.

For a moment it didn't seem to register with Oliver, but after a while he loosened his grip on Tommy's arm. "But... I don't understand. Why would you do that?"

"Because you're an complete IDIOT! You like her! A lot! We all see it. She sees it! And still you decide not to act on it. So we decided for you. And thus we worked you up, so you'd get jealous. And you did, didn't you?"

Did he?  _Did I?_

"Look I'm sensing the two of you need to have a long, heart-felt talk. So I'll leave you guys to it" Tommy turned around and acutely walked away, not leaving any time to negiotiate about the matter.

He turned around to see Felicity, still sitting at the table, looking up to him with expectant eyes. _Here it_  comes...


	5. Chapter 5

Oliver sat down inthe chair across from Felicity, where Tommy had sat just a moment ago. He looked at and for a while it was silent. She really was beautiful. He found himself drowning in her blue eyes and got lost. When he finally found himself again he decided it was time for action. "We need to talk."  _How cliché..._

"I agree, we do need to talk Oliver. But not now, not here. Tonight. We'll have dinner at that new bistro around the corner okay? It's just, I only have about 10 minutes left and the things we have to talk about are going to take a lot more time than that. Deal?" She gave him a questionable look.

 _She really has changed. Not only in the way she dresses. She has become more independant, more of a boss-like person. Someone who could stand beside me, although she always has been just that. Now more than ever._ He nodded in agreement. She stood up to leave but he stopped and grabbed her arm. "We're really gonna talk aren't we? You're gonna show up right? He sounded almost desperate. He had no choice now but to face his feelings instead of dismissing them, and he wasn't going to let this chance slip away.

"Oliver, I have been ready to talk about this the moment you sent me away during the christmas party. I was waiting for you. I will always wait for you." It was almost a whisper, like it was only audiable for them. Like a secret. She gave him a reassuring smile and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Right. Okay. Tonight. We'll talk. Okay, uhm, see you tonight." He let go of her arm and she smiled.

"See you tonight.", she repeated.

 _So apparently even cast-away billionares were still nervous for s_ ome things.

***That night***

***Felicity's POV***

She turned around in front of her mirror, twirling her dress. It wasn't too fancy, it was just a bistro after all, but that didn't mean she didn't look hot.  _Yes, hot. You just wait mister billionaire. Imma blow your sock right off!_  She was wearing a green long-sleeved dress, although the sleeves were lace. It was tight until her waist, where it turned flowy and could fall freely around her legs where it came until mid-thigh. The dress showed just the right amount of skin and she was already fantasizing about Oliver's reaction, when she heard a knock at the door. She put on her black peep toe heels and walked to her door.

"Oliver? I thought we would meet up at the bistro?", she said as she unlocked her door. But when she opened it, it wasn't Oliver who was standing there.

"Ding, dong, guess who's not dead!" Felicity screamed and stumbled back trying to grab, well, anything she could get a hold of.  _The Count!_  She turned around to run towards her room but was stopped by two big arms grabbing her from behind. She screamed again and started to kick and writhe onder his grip, but all it seemed to do was tighten it. She tried to kick his knee-caps and desperatly tried to remember all the training Digg had given her, but somehow nothing came to mind. She actually managed to kick him, but the man behind didn't as much as cringe at the contact.

"For Christ sake, hold her still Jerome! Darling, stop fighting, I'm only here to play a game!", he said as he smiled a smile most unpleasant. He grabbed something from his pocket and she knew what it was even before she saw it. "Isn't it beautiful?", he said as he held the syringe up to the light. "That something so small, can have such a great effect. I'm sure you want to see for yourself, don't you darling?" Before she could do as much as scream again the needle was sticking out of her neck, and everything went dark,

***Oliver's POV***

It was 8 o'clock. She had texted earlier that day they would meet at 7:30. She was never late.  _Give her some time, maybe she just lost track of time fixing her hair. I'll just wait a while longer._ By the time it was 8:15 he stood up. Something was wrong, he could feel it. He grabbed his helmet and went to his bike. He reached her apartment in record time and flew up the stairs. When he reached her hallway his heart seemed to stop and his breathing hitched in his throat. The door had been kicked in. "Felicity?", he yelled, but there was no answer. He went through the door and into her apartment. The place was wrecked.

His heartbeat quickened. "Felicity!?", he yelled again _. No, no, NO. Please no._ He searched all the rooms, which all seemed to be in the same state. He finished with her bedroom and sat down on her bed in defeat, head in his hands, rocking himself back and forth trying to make sense of the situation.

He went back into the livingroom and scanned the room again. He froze.  _No._  A small, empty syringe was lying on the ground with one black heel next to it. He grabbed his phone and dialed Digg's number. His face had turned emotionless, he knew that. But right now he had only one goal. Get back what was his. "Meet me at Verdant. NOW!" He hung up and sped back to the club.

He ran down the stairs where Diggle was already waiting for him. If he had had the time he would have taken it to appreciate what they had done with the place in his absence, but right now he didn't.

"What the hell happened?", Diggle asked, worry on his face and his eyebrows knitted together so tight it must have hurt.

"Felicity. They took her."

"Who is they?", Diggle asked confused.

"The Count Digg! The Count took her and injected her with Vertigo!", he yelled while he threw the small syringe to Digg.

He was already halfway done putting on his gear, when his phone went. It was Felicity and he quickly put it on speaker. "Felicity? Are you okay?"

But instead of getting Felicity, he got something much worse. "Oliver? Is it okay if I call you Oliver? Surprised to hear from me right? Not as suprised as I was. You see I find this not unattractive blond getting all up in my business, and what does she have on her?" Oliver closed his eyes shut. He could hear her whimper as the Count spoke and all he wanted to do was strangle the next person he saw. "A Queen Consolidated ID badge! Now I think to myself, why does that name ring a bell? Oliver Queen! He tried to buy off me last year just before the hood put me in a padded cell! Ipso facto... ARROW!" And with that the line was disconnected.

Oliver threw the phone in a corner, shattering it in the process. He grabbed his, apparently new, bow,  _WOW, this thing is high quality!,_  and ran up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" He heard Digg yell from behind.

"To QC! I know where he is!", he growled.

When he got to Queen Consolidated he didn't waste any time and was on the top floor before the elevator could even make noise. He walked through the glass doors, his hood down, and turned around the corner to see... a sight he wished he never had to see agian. Felicity was sitting in a chair, her dress partly torn, one shoe missing and trembling like she had just been in an ice-lake for 30 minutes. The count sat behind her, twirling her hair in his fingers. He bit down, his jaw tightened so that it hurt and his eyebrows went so far down he was't sure if anyone could even see his eyes right now.

"Pretty swanky offices. You can see ALL the destruction that your mom caused from up here.", the Count said.

"What do you want?" It was more of a growl than a sentencence once it came out.

"World peace and personal satisfaction? Although not nessecarily in that order." He grabbed Felicity's shoulders and she shut her eyes, a small whimper escaping her throat. "You poisened me," he continued, "and put me in a home. You have no idea how much I hated you for that!"

"And you did this to do what?" Oliver asked, trying to stay calm and not let his emotions rule him like his head was screaming for him to do.

"THIS!", the Count yelled as he pulled out a gun and started shooting at Oliver. Felicity let out a cry.

"NO! Oliver!"

Oliver rolled back into his office hiding behind a coach. He'd been hit, but nothing would trail him from his target. "You're gonna have to try harder.", he saidi, trying to get the other man on edge. And it seemed to be working.

"Got it!", and the Count started shooting again. Not hitting any real targets this time.

Oliver took the time the man stopped shooting to run further back into his office. His plan worked, as the Count followed him. What he didn't expect was that he took Felicity with him as he did. He grabbed her by her hair and jerked her forward, gun pointing in the direction where Oliver went.

Oliver suddenly jumped out of nowhere and raised an arrow to the Count.

"SO NOW WE MOVE ON TO PLAN B!", he yelled. Oliver was confused and angry and honesly he felt a thousand emotions right then, but anger flamed when the Count took out another syringe and raised it to her neck.

"Oliver don't!" Felicity yelled. "Not for me." Did she not understand there was litteraly nothing he wouldn't do for her right there in that moment?

"Lower your bow.", the man ground out. Oliver did as he was told and dropped his bow, all the while still looking at a terrified Felicity.

"Your problem is with me!", he tried, "It's not with her." His eyes turned sad and all he really wanted to do was hold her, tell her everyting would be fine and never let her go.

"Well then consider this your penalty for making me go to plan B in the first place!" He raised the syringe and was ready to jab it in her neck. Something seemed to snap in Oliver and he raised his bow before the Count could even move his had towards Felicity's neck. Three arrows swiftly found their way into the Count's chest and he stumbled backwards, crashing through the window and falling to his death.

It took Oliver a while to register just what he had done and he closed his eyes.  _I killed again. Even though I promised her I wouldn't... But I killed for her. There's a difference._  He hurried down to where Felicity had crumpled to the ground.

"Hey, hey." She flinched at his touch, which worried him in return. She took a few deep breaths and raised her head to look at him. As soon as they locked their gaze she calmed down. He pulled her into a hug and started caressing her hair, soothing her. "You're safe." He said it more to himself than to her, still trying to convince himself he had actually gotten there in time. She was here. In his arms. And he was never letting her go.

He felt her hand on his arms and heard something muffled coming from where she was pressed against his chest. Reluctantly he let her go. "You were shot!", she sniffed out as she tenderly touched the fleshwound.

He grabbed her chin and raised her head so she was looking at him again. "Hey, it's nothing okay?" He gave her a small smile, which he saved just for her and to his surprise she managed to smile back.

"Not really the first date I had imagined.", she joked. Oliver's smile grew.  _Only you._  He picked her up from the ground and held her in his arms. They stood there for a while until they heard the noise of sirens in the distance.

"Don't ever do that again please.", he whispered in her hair.

"I won't I promise."

"I'm taking you back to your apartment so you can...", he began. But he was cut off by Felicity.

"NO! I mean, no. I just, I can't be there right now. Please Oliver.", she pleaded. He nodded.

"Than we go to my place.", he said resolutely. Luckily she didn't argue with him.

He got changed really quickly since he didn't want to leave her alone for too long after what just happened and patched himself up. When he emerged she was sitting on the couch, rocking herself back and forth, a lot like he had done just an hour before. He held out his hand. It took a while before she took it, but once she got a hold of it, she held on to it for her dear life.

He led her to the basement where he had parked his bike. She got on top in front of him, her face turned into his shirt and her hands wrapped firmly around his waist. He got on the bike and they drove off. Had it been under other circumstances, he would have very much appreciated the position they were in right now, her body flush against his and them touching in all the right places, but right now was not the time to think about that. Right now he just wanted her safe. And that meant with him.

He gently tapped her on the shoulder once they got to the Queen Mansion and she looked up from his shirt. Her eyes were red from crying and she looked fragile, like any touch could break her. He picked her up in his arms, bridal position, and walked through the front door with her in his arms. She nuzzled her face in his neck and he just couldn't help but think how right that felt.

"OMG! What happened? Is she okay?" Thea ran in from the livingroom and was now next to them, one hand on Felicity's back. Somehow Felicity didn't seem to mind when Thea touched her. Oliver just shook his head.

"Not now Thea. I'm taking her upstairs and borrowing some of your clothes, okay?" Thea nodded and Oliver went up the stairs, heading towards his bedroom. He gently lay her down on the bed, but she was still clutching his shirt. "Felicity, you need to let go for a short while. I'm going to get some of Thea's clothes for you to change. Are you going to be okay?"

The deathgrip she had on his shirt loosened and she nodded. He sprinted through the hall to Thea's room where she already stood waiting with a pair of sweatpants and a black tanktop. He took them gratefully, kissed her on the top of her head and ran back.

"Here. I'll just.. I'm gonna turn around while you change. Just tell me when you need help."

"I'm not crippled you know."

"I know. Just... just change." He turned around while he waited for her to finish changing. After a minute or so she was done and she called for him. He turned around to see her already lying in bed. He walked to her bedside and kneeled. "You just go to sleep okay? I'm gonna be right outside this door."

"Don't leave me! Please Oliver!" She raised her hand and lay it on his cheek, her fingers scraping his stubble. "Please.", she said again, softer this time and single tear escaped her.

He nodded as he got up and rid himself of his shirt throwing it in a corner. He walked to the big closet on the far end of the room and also changed into sweatpants, not bothering to put on a shirt. All the while he felt her eyes on him and he smiled, giving him a small pat on the back.

Once he was done he got into bed beside her and she inmediatly scooted closer, laying her head on his chest. He put one arm around her and with the other one he made small circles on her waist. It seemed to calm her down because her breath evened out, making him believe she had finally fell asleep.

He was almost a hundred percent certain she wouldn't hear him if he said it.

"I love you"


	6. Chapter 6

Felicity woke after the sun was long up. She sat up and took a look around the room, a confused look on her face.  _Wait a minute… this isn't my room? This one is bigger that my bathroom and kitchen together…_

Slowly all the events of the previous night began to come back to her. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach and ran to the bathroom. She found it by opening the first door she saw and fell down in front of the toilet and let everything out. When she was done she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. She winced when she saw her bruises. Her cheek was red from where the man named Jerome had slapped her and her arms were purple from where he had grabbed her.

Suddenly another memory crossed her mind.  _"I love you"_  He had thought she was already asleep. She had thought that too, that was, until she heard him say  _the words_. She now no longer saw the broken girl she saw just mere seconds earlier, but a happy woman with the goofiest smile on her face. He said he loved me. Should I tell him?

She decided not to. Perhaps it was wise to leave that for after they had talked some things out. And maybe, just maybe she could tell him without being hurt in the process.

She silently thanked Thea when she walked back into the bedroom and found a warm vest lying on the bed. She put it on and started to make her way downstairs. She had been in the mansion many times with Thea during the time that Oliver was gone, but she just couldn't seem to get used to it. Everytime she seemed to find new things like paintings, another door leading to god knows where or another staircase.

She walked down the hall on her bare feet, but froze halfway down the stairs. Standing there at the end of the staircase was Moira Queen. The matriarch of the family. "Mrs…. Mrs Queen. I-I had now idea you were home yet."

"Well, as you can see Felicity dear, I am."  _OMG she knows my name._

"You, uhm, you know my name?", she asked cautiously.

"Well believe it or not, Thea talks quite a lot. I think I now know more about you that your parents do!" She let out a small laugh at her joke and walked further up the stairs. "Darling, don't take this the wrong way, but you look terrible! What happened, if you don't mind me asking."

"Uhm, honestly, I don't", she gulped, "I don't really want to talk about it..."

"That's quite alright dear. Oliver and Thea are in the kitchen. I'm sure you can find your way by now." Moira smiled an honest smile Felicity knew well. So Oliver took after his mother after all. The woman passed her and turned a corner. The knot that had resided in her stomach finally dissolved and she finished her way down the stairs.

She found her way to the kitchen and found Oliver and Thea going back and forth to each other in a heated fight.

"YOU said you wanted to protect her!"

"And I did! I still do!"

"Then WHY in GODS NAME did you stop being the friggin' Hood!? Did you think she would be safer without him? Because with you gone, she was more vulnerable and sad and tired and you name it then she was before you were gone!" Thea was breathing deeply and looked at her brother, a look of defiance on her face.

Oliver on the other hand looked like he was just slapped in the face. "You knew?"

"Of course I knew Ollie. You're my brother, and I know you didn't want me to know but come on. You were on an island for 5 years Ollie. 5 years! And suddenly you come back and there is an arrow-shooting vigilante roaming the streets! I'm not stupid you know."

Oliver blinked a few times and his gaze finally shifted to Felicity. She stood nailed to the ground. She knew that she should look surprised by Thea's confession. But it was too late now. He had already seen her.

"You knew she knew." It wasn't a question. He already knew the answer. She slowly nodded her head, afraid of how he might react. But instead he sat down, defeat visible in his plain face.

"Oliver..", Thea began but he held up a hand.

"Leave." Both women turned around, but his head snapped up. "Not you." He was looking at Felicity. Thea left and Felicity took a few steps in Oliver's direction. He looked up at her and all the hurt made place for worry and anger and some other emotions she couldn't quite put her finger on. His eyes stilled on her bright red cheek and then traveled to her arms, as if he could see her bruises through her thick vest.

"Take of you vest" His face became stony and his jaw clenched.

"No."

"Felicity.." He said threateningly.

"No Oliver. I'm not going to let you beat yourself up." She walked up to him and cupped his face with both her hands. "What happened was not your fault, okay? You had no idea! So no, I will not take off my vest."

"But if I had gotten there sooner.." His voice broke and his eyes were full with wild panic.

"If you had gotten there sooner he would have found another way to hurt you through me. But Oliver if you had been later, I could have been dead. You were there in time, that's all that matters! Oliver look at me." His eyes that he once again had shut to lock out all her words shot open, blue and alert. "I'm alive Ollie. And that's all thanks to you! So don't you even dare blame yourself!"

She saw his eyes getting watery and felt his arms snake up around her waist and pulled himself into her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and and bend her head down so she was resting on his. She didn't know for how long they stood like that, but it felt like hours.

Oliver finally raised his head to look up at her, arms still firmly placed around her waist. "I just can't lose you. I won't."

"I know you won't. Oliver, the only one who could ever make me leave you, is you."

He smiled.  _Such a beautiful smile_. Suddenly she remembered the wound he had gotten the previous night and she carefully touched his arm. When he didn't as much as flinch she put her hand flat on his arm. "It doesn't hurt?"

"I've had worse."

"You know that doesn't exactly help the situation right?"

He smiled. "Yeah I thought as much.", he said. His face relaxed a bit and he was no longer clenching his jaw. "We still have to talk about some stuff though."

She had totally forgotten about that and she nodded. "Can we go sit somewhere? My feet are getting kinda cold on these tiles."

He smiled. "Of course. Why don't we continue our conversation in the livingroom?" He led her out into the next room, his hand on her lower back and it sent small jolts through her body. They sat down on the big coach and he grabbed a blanket which she gratefully put around her feet.

They were both silent for a time, not knowing where to start. It took a while for either of them to find words and Oliver began.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you away. I just wanted to keep you safe."

"And you thought that telling me I was _nothing_  was the best way to do that? Because that is just plain stupid." She folded her arms and looked at him accusingly. She hadn't forgotten what had happened. She knew he hadn't meant it, but it still stung.

"That it was." He bowed his head in shame. "I know that was stupid, and wrong. And stupid. I can't keep you safe if I don't even have you here. It was killing me, and I don't plan on doing it again. Ever."

"You better not." She could barely suppress a smile of victory.

There was a loud slamming of the door and both of their heads snapped up, Oliver suddenly alert and raising a hand, putting it in front of Felicity in a way of protecting her. Turned out the one who needed protection wasn't her as a raging Tommy stormed into the room.

"Where is he!?" As soon as he laid his eyes on Oliver he jumped forward, ready to punch him in the face. Luckily Felicity was there to hold him back and prevent Tommy from hurting himself by trying to hurt Oliver. He could never win a fight like that and they both knew it. But that didn't mean he wasn't willing to try. "You were supposed to look after her! Protect her! Keep her safe! You son of a.."

"TOMMY!" He looked down to see a heavy breathing Felicity, hands wrapped around his waist and pulling him back with all her weight. He relaxed and as soon as she was 'pretty sure' he wouldn't try to make another move on Oliver, she let him go. She was glaring daggers at him and she saw him gulp and take a step back.  _Yes, you be scared of me Thomas Merlyn._

"Don't blame Oliver right after I just convinced him it wasn't his fault! You will destroy everything I worked for! It wasn't his fault. He saved me Tommy. If he had gotten there any later the Count might have gotten, I don't know, bored and killed me just for fun! Oliver saved my life!"

Tommy seemed to calm down at that and looked at his friend again. Oliver was still standing in a defensive position, but began to stand straight again when he saw the pure look of thankfulness in Tommy's eyes.

He looked back at Felicity, who nudged back towards Oliver and he grunted.

"Fine.", he said with a sigh. "I'm sorry I yelled at you and accused you." There was a short pause. "And thank you. We almost lost her, and you saved her. Thank you." He stepped forward and gave his ( _former?)_  best friend a hug. There was a short exchange of words between the two of them, but she couldn't hear.  _Ah, bromances. It's a beautiful thing._

"So, I have to go again.", he apologised to Felicity. The three of them had talked and everyone seemed to be on good terms again. "I promised Laurel I'd stop by for lunch. Are you sure you're okay?"

"For the thousandth time Merlyn, I'm fine! Go, kiss your girlfriend or something. Shoo!" She made a shooing hand wave and he stood up laughing and fake-scared ran to the door. He waved one last time before they heard the door shut behind him.

Oliver and Felicity looked at each other, both completely content with the situation and goofily smiled at each other.

"I'm gonna go shower. I'm sure there are some clothes of mine somewhere in Thea's room."

"Yeah, how the hell did that happen? I mean you and Thea, not the clothes." He quickly corrected himself.

"I'll tell you about that some other time. Now, I want to shower. And then I have to go home. I'll ask Digg if he can help me with the cleaning. He still owes me one." She turned around walking towards the stairs, but at the last minute turned around again. "Oh and Oliver?"

He looked up.

"Just so you know, I didn't fall asleep until you did." She winked at him and turned the corner where she made a small victory dance and fistpumped. The look on his face was _priceless_!

It took her a while to locate her clothes in Thea's closet considering it was the size of her entire bedroom. She stepped into the biggest shower she'd ever seen and gratefully let the rich stream of hot water stream over her back and head. She just couldn't shake Oliver's purely terrified face from her head and laughed.  _This is going to be_  fun!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG WHERE'RE ALMOST AT THE END ADSHFGJASBGF!!! I hope you guys liked it so far ;)

Felicity sat down on her bright yellow couch with a sigh. It had taken her two-and-a-half days plus help from Thea, Diggle and Tommy to get her place cleaned up. She had decided to take a week off. Well, actually Oliver had decided that for her, which she hadn't been happy about at first, but had learned to appreciate as she finally began to relax again after the strange turn events of the past few days.

She hadn't seen Oliver at all since that night. When she had come to work two days ago she was taken back home immediatley by Dig who told her that Oliver had given her a whole week off and Diggle had then helped her clean most of the mess up. She had spent the next day with Thea and Tommy, redecorating the place.  _Now that we're already busy, might as well change up the decoration,_ had she thought.

She looked around her room. It hadn't changed that drastically, but just enough to no longer remind her of that night every time she walked into her apartment. But every now and then she would still get shivers. And so she decided to go to Verdant.

Yes, it was another place with bad memories -this time of the night of the Undertaking- but it had hints of Oliver all over the place. And somehow even though she had been so scared that night, she liked being there. Especially in the time that Oliver had gone missing again. She would always find little things just lying on the ground that managed to make her smile.

Also just like she had done her apartment, she had redecorated the lair. Updated her system, got Oliver a new bow. _For which he still hasn't thanked me._  She stepped down the steel steps and walked to her desk. She knew Oliver had said he didn't want to be the vigilante anymore, but she just couldn't help but keep track of the crime that happened in the city. _You know, just to be sure._

Something moved behind her, but she didn't seem to notice. "Thank you for the new bow," someone whispered in her ear and Felicity jumped three feet into the air letting out a loud screech. She grabbed the first thing she could find on her desk turned around, letting out a deep breath when she saw who was standing behind her.

"Will you please not do that? Do you have any idea how much you scared me?!"

"I have an idea now, yes. Can you please put down the scissors?" Oliver was holding his hands up in surrender and nudged to the pair of scissors in her hand that she was still pointing at him.

"As if I could hurt you."

"I think you could if you wanted to. Digg said you two have been training. You could show me some things? Preferably things that don't involve scissors." He was still holding up his hands and was grinning down at her.

"Thank God, he still has his sense of humor. But I don't have my training stuff with me right now so maybe another time. Why are you here anyway?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest.  _Avoiding the question, as always. But nothing's gonna save you now, Queen._  "I asked you first."

"Fair enough. I was looking for you. You weren't at your apartment and so I went to the next best thing. Guess my first instinct was right. Now _you_  go."

"Why were you looking for me?", she asked.

" _Now_  who is avoiding the question?" He, in turn, crossed his arms in front of himself and leaned back, eying her dubiously.

"I'm not! I'm just genuinely curious." He raised his eyebrows at that. "Fine, I was running from my problems and so I ran here, happy?"

"Very!"

"Now tell me why you were looking for me?" She put on a puppy-dog face and he laughed.

"Well..." He started to shift uncomfortably and she realized he was hiding something behind his back.

"Okay new question, what is that behind your back?"

She saw a grin starting to widen on his face. "Nothing."

She tried to walk around him to see what it was, but he just turned with her. She tried again a few times, hoping she would be faster than him, but that proved to be a bad idea when she started to get dizzy.

Her second idea was a bit more creative as she thought back to how she'd promised herself she'd make Oliver's life pure-teasing torture. She, without any warning or hesitation, snaked her arms around Oliver's waist and got up to him, closing the distance between them. Their faces were so close she could feel his breath on her lips and saw his eyes dart to her lips.  _Oh no, mister. We are doing this my way._

She found his hands behind his back and reached for what was inside of them, not breaking the gaze they were holding. She pulled back slowly, taking with her what had been in his hands. Oliver let out a shuddered breath as she took a step back and she couldn't help but notice the way his eyes had darkened a few shades.

Her eyes on the other hand had widened as she looked down at what was in her hands. A smile crept up on her face as she looked up at him. He was just standin there, still grinning.

"Oh, no you didn't!"

"I suppose I did."

In her hands lay the not yet released DVD of season 3 of her favorite show, Game of Thrones.  _The last episode aired like, 2 weeks ago!?_  "How the hell did you get this?" She knew she was supposed to play her own game with him, but him suddenly bringing her impossible gifts changed the rules a bit.

"You really have no idea how rich my family is, do you?"

"I knew you were rich but I had no idea it was this bad! You- you wanna watch?" She hesitantly shuffled towards a corner of the room which she had changed into a tv-corner. It had an old couch that was amazingly comfortable, and a flatscreen that she had bought with the money that Oliver had left them when he disappeared.

"You buy a flatscreen and you put it here?"

"Shut up, I like watching tv here," she bit back.

He raised his hands in defense. "Whatever you say, milady. I have never seen this show, though, so you will have to talk me through it."

They said down on the couch and she vigorously started to tell him everything she could about the show,  _without_  giving spoilers.

"Wait so, this chick has dragons? How does anyone even doubt she will rule them? She has dragons! What do they have?"

"Well nothing at the moment, but the dragons are still small so they're not worrying about that yet."

"Well that's just stupid. Especially now that she has an army."

"I think I know who  _you're_  rooting for now," she chuckled. She stood up and grabbed the DVD. She sat back down on the couch, as far away from Oliver as possible. He didn't like that, and she could see it. He kept giving annoyed glances every now and then and she bit back a smile.

Halfway through the episode, she noticed he suddenly had gotten a bit closer.  _Ooh, sneaky!_  She pretended not to notice and kept watching. When she caught him scooting closer again she decided it was time to scare him.

"Oliver?" He froze mid-scoot and sat back down quickly and put his fingers through his hair, trying to be nonchalant about it. But instead of asking him about their distance she decided to ask him something else. She turned her head so she could look him in the eyes. "Why did you bring me the DVD?"

He let out an audible sigh, glad she hadn't asked about the scooting.

"Well, our date turned into a kidnapping and in the end we slept together. Thought you deserved an apology."

She knew what he was doing.  _We slept together..._  She knew he had said that on purpose but she couldn't help the blush that spread across her cheeks.

She looked back at the screen again and Oliver seemed to relax a bit. He scooted closer again. This time, she couldn't stifle a giggle.

"I can see what you're doing you know?"

"Oh yeah? And what is that?" He smiled at her deviously.

She stood up, walked over to where he was sitting and sat down next to him. His eyes turned big and glistened.

"Better?"

"Way better." He lifted his arm and draped it across her shoulder. They stayed like that for about an hour. Oliver stood up and ordered pizza. "Pepperoni right?" She nodded, still smiling. He walked back to the couch and raised her legs which earned him a small squeak from Felicity. He sat back down and laid her legs across his and started massaging her feet.

She leaned her head back and moaned in appreciation. She regretted it immediately and her eyes shot open in embarressment. She leaned up on her elbows and raised her head to be met with a grinning Oliver.

"That good huh?"

She let her head fall back again and groaned, "Shut up," a stupid smile on her face.

After another four episodes of  _Game of Thrones_  and a pizza she sat back up, hungry, and stretched. Her stomach grumbled.

"Perhaps this is a nice que to redo that date. How about we try out that new bistro for real this time?" he asked.

She turned around and looked at him.  _How strange, that just a few hours ago I was trembling and fear washed over me. But now I'm extremely at ease. Because of you,_  she thought.

She saw him raise his eyebrows in surprise. "You know you can still crash at my place if you feel uncomfortable at your own. I mean, if you want. Because you feel 'extremely at ease' with me." He wiggled his eyebrows at the last part.

Her cheeks flared again.  _Damn you brain-to-mouth-filter! Damn you!_  But she wasn't gonna lose this one. She stepped forward towards him and leaned in, his face now incredibly close. She put her arms around his neck and grabbed the small hairs on his neck making him growl. She looked into his eyes and saw them darken again. She loved how she could have that effect on him. Her lips were only inches away and he opened his in anticipation.

But instead she leaned towards his ear and whispered, "Perhaps you can convince me of that after we have dinner?" She stepped back and turned around walking away from him and towards the stairs leaving ,once again, a flabbergasted Oliver. "And you're buying!" she yelled back over her shoulder.

She hadn't even reached the stairs when she felt a hand around her wrist that pulled her back and made her give a small yelp. The hand turned her around until she was suddenly flush against Oliver's hard chest. His head dipped down and found her lips. It was needy and hot and full of long kept-in desire. His lips felt hard against hers, and yet the kiss was soft and kind. He softly nibbled on her lower lip and a small whimper escaped from within her throat.

And then without warning he pulled back and she was left staring at his face which now had a dangerous smile on it. "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into Smoak."

She gaped at him, completely surprised at what he just done. "You're playing dirty!", she accused him.

"Right back at you!" He threw his head back and laughed. She felt a hand come up on the small of her back and again it sent jolts of anticipation through her, although more noticeable than before at the Queen Mansion, now in the aftermath of his heated kiss.

He walked around her until he was next to her. "You ready for this?"

"Don't know if I'll ever be." Upstairs the club was already starting to fill and Oliver opened the doors to the booming sound of the music. Neither of them seemed to notice the stares they were getting from both Tommy and Thea from behind the bar and they walked out of the club, on their way to their first date and whatever that night would bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LAST CHAPTER IS NEXT!? SAY WHAT?! Please tell me what you guys think of it so far :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the last chapter. It is short, but sweet. I was mostly busy with writing another fic when I wrote this so that explains the shortness (if that's even a word..) I enjoyed it very much and I hope you guys did too!!

Felicity turned the key in the lock of her door. She had the goofiest smile on her face, that she was trying to hide from the man standing behind her.

"There's no need to hide it. I can see you smile," Oliver said from behind her.

She turned around and beamed at him. "It's just...I- I had a really great time... I guess I just never expected this," she motioned between the two of them, "to happen."

"Even so, I'm happy it did. I never really thought I could be happy with someone again after Laurel."

A painful silence fell over them and the mood shifted towards a bit awkward. Felicity looked at her feet to try and avoid his gaze. She had always been jealous of Laurel. She was gorgeous and long-legged and… well, gorgeous.

She felt something warm grab her hand and looked at it to see Oliver's big hand wrap around hers. She stared at it for a while. His hands were rough and shaped by experience and death. Yet they were soft around her small, unbruised and uncut hands.

She looked up at him and all her worry dissolved. The way he looked at her, with adoration, with love. It made her heart melt. She couldn't remember ever being looked at like that. But now he was.

"You make me happy. Thank You." His hand moved from her hand to her shoulder and he pulled her into a hug, holding onto her like she could disappear any moment. It was enough and yet it felt like it was too much.

She rested her head against his chest and could hear his heartbeat. Normally it would be steady, she'd seen his pulse a hundred times when hooked onto a machine. But it was beating like crazy. Like he had been running and was coming down from the high. Actually it sounded a lot like her own.

She had no idea for how long they stood there. She looked up at him and rested her chin on his chest. Standing on her tiptoes, their noses were almost touching and it was him who closed the distance between them.

Their lips crashed together like thunder and lightening and she swore she could hear fireworks in the background. A kiss like this, she had never experienced before. It was a lot like the one they had shared in the foundry, but somehow it was also much more.

When she pulled away she looked up at him, a beaming smile on her face. "You wanna come in?" she asked.

He nodded and she turned around to open her door, Oliver's hand never leaving her. He was touching her, gripping on to her for his dear life. Like he'd drown, or like she could disappear any second. When the door clicked and was slowly pushed open she, again, turned around to face Oliver. She gently wrapped her tiny hand around his rough, big ones that were holding on to her waist.

"I'm not going anywhere," she whispered. "I'm here to stay, whether you want want me or not."

"I want you," was his immediate reply. He smiled at her weakly and she couldn't help but wrap her arms around his neck and hug him.

She loved him more than she could probably bear, but she would anyways. He was here, with her. She never believed this day would ever come. That her wildest dreams would come true, but they had.

"Come in." She gestured for him that is was okay to come in and so he did. She closed the door behind him. "How does a bottle of red sound?" She walked to her kitchen and grabbed the bottle of red wine Oliver had gotten her a while ago and poured two glasses.

"You know we didn't finish watching that Game of whatever," Oliver said as he sat down on her couch. She handed him his glass and sat down next to him, snuggling up to him.

"It's _Game of Thrones_ , thank you very much. We can't finish it tonight, but we can watch another episode if you want?"

He nodded and she put on the DVR where she had also stashed her Game of Thrones collection.

It turned out they watched two episodes instead of one, and when it was finished it was already two past midnight. She glanced up. Her head had rested on his chest and she had heard his steady heartbeat beneath her ear the entire time. She hadn't noticed how it became slower and slower until now. Apparently he had fallen asleep.

She chuckled and grabbed a blanket from the end of the couch. She draped it over the both of them and rested her head on his chest again.

It made her feel secure, his heartbeat. It made her feel safe. He made her feel safe. Suddenly it struck her that she had not once thought about exactly what had happened here only a short time ago. All the bad memories hadn't come back since she had Oliver here.

She closed her eyes and almost drifted off to sleep. She was sure of it now. There was no one in the world but him for her. And now that she got him, she was never letting go. She was never leaving. Ever. Because she loved him. And he loved her. Everything turned foggy in her head and she smiled.

"I love you too".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END. There might me a sequel in the future, so be on the lookout for that. But for now, thank you for sticking with me and I hope you had a good time :) BYE LOVELIES

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, chapter 1, PHEW! Hope you liked it! Please leave something to tell me what you think :)


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